Consumer advocate: Some agricultural crops are now being genetically engineered to produce important pharmaceuticals...

jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com on June 30, 2021

I am not an instructor but I was able to pick D due to the following logic. I hope it will help you.

D (In crops genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals, the drugs are not present in any part of the plant used for food in ordinary crops of the same species.) is the correct answer because the conclusion is that “this raises the possibility of having drugs in the general food supply due to these drug producing crops.” D can weaken this conclusion that ordinary crops fertilized by genetically engineered pollen will raise the possibility of having drugs in our food supply. D states that even if ordinary crops are fertilized by genetically engineered pollens, they cannot put drugs into our general food supply, as no drugs are found in any part of the plant used for food. If parts of the plants used for food supply possess no drugs, that means these drug producing crops will not put drugs into our food supply.

B (If pollen from a genetically engineered crop is prevented from drifting into fields in which ordinary crops of the same species are being grown, then there is no risk of the pollen fertilizing the latter crops.) is wrong because it doesn’t weaken the conclusion of “having a possibility of drugs in our general food supply.” B simply states that the genetically engineered pollen is prevented from going into ordinary crops and that is why there is no risk of fertilizing the regular crops. Notice our conclusion states that there is a possibility of drugs in our food supply due to these regular crops being fertilized by lab pollens. We need something to weaken this conclusion, namely something that will say that these regular crops, even after being fertilized by lab engineered pollens, will not put any drugs in our general food supply. This is exactly what D is stating. D states that whether ordinary crops are fertilized by engineered pollens will not raise the possibility of having drugs in our food supply, as the parts of the plants used for our food contain no drugs. Thus D is the correct answer.

I hope I explained it correctly. Please feel free to correct me.

FS101 on July 3, 2021

Thank you!

Lex on March 8, 2022

Yeah, I had trouble with one too. I spent too long pouring over this question in a practice test because I was like... none of these choices are good for weakening! what the heck? I now realize it was because I assumed crops would mean food supply and you're right, D does eliminate that possibility. Thank you for that very helpful explanation!

Emil-Kunkin on September 25, 2022

Good catch! Just wanted to chime in here to agree with Jing Jing